Smooth Ride
by Leonessa Ivanovna
Summary: A oneshot that may devlop into a serous story. Please review. Have not stopped TBD, just needed a short break.


Disclaimer: I do not own any Alex Rider characters. Any mentioned that appear at any time in this story are the property of A.H. Any others are of my own making; and if there are any references outside of A.R series that are real, such as places or people, it is not intentional.

_I would like to request a moment silence for the innocents of the Moscow bombing. There are many people in the world who do jobs more dangerous than Alex's to keep us all safe._

Товарищи, вы в наших сердцах и умах людей. Ты должен быть отомщена.

* * *

Sabina craned her neck. The crowd bustled through the hall. She hoped, wished, he would come. Her parents had agreed to it. Alex and Jack would stay here, and Las Angles, for four weeks. She knew he had met Jack's parents. They had stopped in Washington, for a lay-over. He was sure to be exhausted.

She thought back to their last conversation, on the snowy turret of a Scottish castle. She was surprised, and angry, that he didn't think of Cray. But she was scared too. The way he had simply said _No_ like it was the easiest thing in the world, to not think every do about killing a man. How he held you hostage and threatened your hand, your life! And he said no.

Liz smiled at her. Sabina pulled her lips back, but it felt more like a grimace. Edward stood to the side, leaning on his cane. Sabina remembered the drive up to the party, the hushed tones between Alex and her father. She hadn't eavesdropped, but now she wished she had. She scanned the crowd again. Suddenly she spotted Jack. Liz waived excitedly, and Jack waved back. Sabina looked for Alex, but didn't see him.

Jack rushed up, and Liz pulled her into a hug.

"It's so good to see you!"

Despite having lived in the United States for a few months, the accent was still strange. Sabina shook her head. _Focus._

"Where's Alex?"

Jack's face held an expression of comical confusion. "He said he would beat me to you. I thought he was already here."

Sabina scanned the room again. "I don't see him."

Suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder. A scream bubbled up in her throat.

"Got you."

Sabina spun around. Alex stood there, a smile tugging at his lips.

Jack looked half angry, half amused. "How long have you been here?"

Alex shrugged. "About six minutes."

Jack shook her head.

Edward was looking at Alex with a strange expression. Alex noticed.

"Hello Mr. Pleasure."

Edward shook the pre-offered hand.

Liz was beaming. "Let's go home! The airport is so dull."

Sabina stared at her mum.

Jack shifted uncomfortably.

Edward broke the tension. "Of course. Let's go home. You must be tired."

The car was worse. Sabina was on the right side, with Alex in the middle. Her father was on the far left. Jack drove, and she and Liz chatted happily.

But there could have been a pane of glass between the front and the back of the car.

Alex sat in silence, staring straight ahead. Sabina looked out the window. When Alex spoke she was so surprised, she jumped.

"I'm sorry."

She looked at him in shock.

"What?"

He looked her dead in the eye. "I'm sorry for my response to our previous…conversation."

The car was still. The wheels hummed on the road. Houses flashed by, people moving about their daily lives. But Sabina was trapped in this bubble. In this strange surreal world.

"Just for your response?" She was shocked how harsh it came out, the venom injected in her own words.

"Yes."

"So," she drew out the word, sarcasm as thick as pus. "You're not sorry that Cray died."

She wanted to take back her words, stuff them in her mouth. They were bitter, full of pain. All the worries and fears of the past month came pouring out.

"You're not sorry that a man died because of us! That we ruined the President's plane! That we almost died!"

She was screaming now. The occupants in the car were shocked. No one had ever directly spoken about the incident. Although, Sabina supposed that her father and Alex had, at one point.

"Two."

"I beg your pardon?"

Alex shrugged. "Two people on the plane died as direct results to our actions. Although, if the pilot hadn't landed, he might have lived. But if he had continued to take off, the pressure of the cabin would have torn the plane to shreds, possibly killing everyone on board."

Sabina could barley breath. Her heart was pounding. "Two." She felt weak. Her head swam. "I killed two people." She stared at her hands. She could almost feel the blood, thick and warm and dead, covering them.

"I did."

Everyone turned to look at Alex. Ever Jack briefly glanced up in the rearview mirror.

"Technically, I did." Alex shrugged. "I pushed Cray out of the plane."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

* * *

I wrote this for a few reasons. One the lack of using such a diverse, complicated character as Sab seems almost appalling to me. Second, I was in a bad mood and needed to rant. This was the result. I don;t know if I will continue, but any who wants to adopt this plot line is free to message me. i plan on writing maybe one more chapter for this, and may wrap it up then. But this has so much ponenital, I hate to leave it stranded.

There is a poll on my page, for the next story. Sadly TBD is drawing to a close.

Please PM me with any personal comments. I will reply to all.

I have started a forum the collects information relevant to the AR fan-dom. Feel free to add factual information.

Fro those of you with out an account:

To vote, simply type VOTE: and the corresponding number in your review. If you pick 3, briefly describe.

To message me, type PM: and the message into your review.

Thank you all.


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